George Shirakawa Jr. to be sentenced Nov. 8, even as more conflicts of interest muddle case

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From right, former Santa Clara County District 2 Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. with his lawyer Jay Rorty, stands in court to face sentencing at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, June 7, 2013. The judge delayed the sentencing because of the new felony false impersonation charges Shirakawa is facing. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

SAN JOSE — As if the trials of onetime Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. weren’t muddled enough, on Friday a newly appointed fourth judge on the high-profile case expressed his numerous conflicts of interest — from sharing a child care provider with a key witness expected to testify for the defense, to once working under the direct supervision of the prosecuting DA.

Neither side, however, took issue with Superior Court Judge Daniel Nishigaya taking over the case, which is well into its eighth month after a series of legal hiccups and surprising detours. And that led to some long-stalled progress: A sentencing date of Nov. 8 has finally been set to determine Shirakawa’s debt to society for lying on campaign finance forms and gambling away public funds.

At least one witness is now expected to testify in person for each side before Nishigaya, a former supervising deputy district attorney who will rule on whether Shirakawa serves time in county jail for his 12 criminal convictions. The DA is pushing for a one-year sentence; the defense wants community service.

To make its case, Shirakawa’s attorney John Williams said Friday he intended to call to the stand Michele Lew, president and CEO of the prominent local agency Asian Americans for Community Involvement.

Nishigaya had earlier revealed he knows Lew outside of court and shared the same day care. The judge also revealed he once worked under the lead prosecutor in the Shirakawa case, Karyn Sinunu-Towery, and also served as one of her campaign treasurers when she ran for district attorney in 2006.

The judge aired those potential conflicts after reading an April letter Lew wrote to the court expressing the willingness of her 40-year-old nonprofit “to be considered as a placement site for Mr. Shirakawa’s community service, including volunteer service up to 20 hours a week for one year.”

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Lew — who has served as a community member to the Mercury News’ editorial board — said she was not advocating a particular sentence for Shirakawa, merely stating that should a judge order community service, her agency would be willing to receive him. Lew added that she is not prepared to offer her opinion on whether community service alone is a sufficient sentence.

Regardless, she will be the first person to testify in court on Shirakawa’s behalf, other than his two attorneys. In court dates stretching back to March, Shirakawa has yet to appear with a single supporter by his side.

Lew said if her agency is chosen, “we’d have to sit down and talk with him. Typically, court-mandated volunteers help us with clerical tasks such as putting together folders and organizing materials. That may be a role for him to play — miscellaneous clerical tasks.”

But Lew’s letter stated another possible role for the longtime local politician caught gambling with campaign contributions and funds drawn from his county credit card. Lew said her group could “envision Mr. Shirakawa volunteering with our Center for Addiction Recovery and Empowerment (CARE), which helps individuals and their families address problem gambling issues.”

A less sympathetic view of that behavior will come from the victims’ perspective that prosecutors want the judge to hear. A county official, either County Executive Jeff Smith or Chief Operating Officer Gary Graves, will likely describe the harm Shirakawa caused to taxpayers. Graves said he or Smith will likely tell the court how Shirakawa’s misuse of public funds also harmed the county’s reputation.

“We aren’t particularly excited about having to sit there and testify, we’re trying to put this behind us,” Graves added. “But obviously if that’s what they want us to do we’ll do it — it is what it is and we’ll do what is necessary.”

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